Food Robotics Leader Soft Robotics Raises $10M to Meet Pandemic-induced Demand and Bring its 3D Vision and AI-Powered Solutions to Market
Soft Robotics has announced a successful $10M Series B extension to expand its commercial operations in response to the increased demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This funding focuses on launching their SoftAI™ powered robotic solutions, integrating 3D vision and AI for automation of bulk picking processes in the food supply chain. The round saw participation from Tyson Ventures, alongside other notable investors. Soft Robotics aims to leverage its patented technologies to enhance automation in food processing, as demand for their solutions has surged significantly.
- Secured $10M in Series B funding to expand operations.
- Increased demand leading to two largest sales quarters in company history.
- Tyson Ventures, part of Tyson Foods, participates in funding, demonstrating confidence in the company.
- SoftAI technology enables automation that significantly improves operational efficiency.
- None.
BEDFORD, Mass., June 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Award-winning food robotics company Soft Robotics Inc. announced today that it has raised a
"Today's industrial robots are unable to deal with product variability or unstructured environments typically found across the labor challenged food supply chain in areas such as agriculture, food processing, and logistics," said Mark Chiappetta, COO at Soft Robotics. "With our revolutionary soft grasping, 3D perception, and AI technologies, Soft Robotics unlocks robotic automation by augmenting widely available industrial robots with true hand-eye coordination allowing them to perform tasks that traditionally could only be performed by human workers."
Companies such as Tyson Foods, are betting on adoption of robotic automation to help improve safety and increase production in their facilities to meet the demand for high quality, safe and nutritious protein products. Tyson Foods is a leading producer of chicken, beef, and pork, and has invested about
"At Tyson Ventures, we are continually exploring new areas in automation that can enhance safety and increase the productivity of our team members," said Rahul Ray, Senior Director of Tyson Ventures. "Soft Robotics' best-in-class robotic technology, computer vision and AI platform have the potential to transform the food industry and will play a key role in any company's automation journey."
The global COVID-19 pandemic has ratcheted up the pressure to automate to alleviate workforce challenges and increase operational and food safety in factory environments. Soft Robotics has experienced a rapid increase in demand for its products and has delivered the two largest sales quarters in the company's seven-year history.
"This is an exciting time at Soft Robotics," said Jeff Beck, CEO at Soft Robotics. "The vulnerabilities of the food supply chain were illuminated by the pandemic making it clear that automation has graduated from a nice-to-have to a must-have across all large scale food production operations. Soft Robotics patented technologies are ready and being used today to enable automation in the processing and packaging of proteins, produce and bakery products. Demand for both our hardware and SoftAI software solutions are increasing at an unprecedented pace. This new capital will support Soft Robotics' exponential growth thereby ensuring automation plays a major role in safeguarding the food supply against future disruptions."
"We've been an investor in Soft Robotics since the very early stages and their progress in the last 18 months has been phenomenal. Their SoftAI solution, combining patented soft robotic grippers, ultra-fast 3D vision, and sophisticated AI that evaluates a scene to autonomously choose the optimal grasping solution, is the future of robotics and an absolute game-changer for the food and logistics industries," said Kevin Dunlap, managing partner at Calibrate Ventures. "Companies in these sectors are rapidly adopting SoftAI in their factories to automate picking and sorting of fragile or irregularly-shaped products such as meats, produce, and seasonal items that previously had to be hand-sorted."
About Soft Robotics
Soft Robotics is an industry-leading and award-winning technology company that designs and builds automated picking solutions using mGrip, a proprietary, modular soft robotic gripping system, 3D machine perception, and SoftAI™ artificial intelligence. The company's transformational robotic solutions enable machine builders to solve the hardest piece picking problems across the food supply chain in areas like agriculture, food processing, and logistics. Today Soft Robotics has hundreds of system installations, running billions of successful picks, in 24/7 "live" production for some of the largest global producers in these industries.
Soft Robotics is backed by leading venture capital firms and strategic investors that include ABB Technology Ventures, Calibrate Ventures, FANUC, Honeywell Ventures, Hyperplane Venture Capital, Material Impact, Scale Venture Partners, Tekfen Ventures, Tyson Ventures, and Yamaha Motor Co., Ltd. Learn more at www.softroboticsinc.com.
Media and General Inquiries:
Julie Collura
Director Marketing Communications
jcollura@softroboticsinc.com
Investment/partnership inquiries:
Mark Chiappetta
Chief Operating Officer
mchiappetta@softroboticsinc.com
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SOURCE Soft Robotics Inc.
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